1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a process for making fluoroolefin homopolymers, copolymers, terpolymers, and blends thereof, employing a single feed of an azeotropic mixture of monomers having a constant composition wherein the azeotropic mixture of monomers includes at least one fluoroolefin and optionally, a comonomer capable of copolymerizing therewith. More particularly, the present invention relates to fluoroolefin homopolymers, copolymers, terpolymers, and blends thereof, prepared by the present process, which employs the azeotropic mixture of monomers of the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fluorine-containing polymers and copolymers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,988. Vinylidene fluoride copolymers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,987 (see Example 2) and process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,757. VDF/CTFE copolymers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,816 and 3,053,818 (see Example 6).
Other copolymers made from fluoroolefins are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,812,066; 2,599,640; 6,342,569; 5,200,480; and 2,919,263.
Fluorocarbon/Acrylate Coatings are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,599 and powder coating are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,394.
Solvent based blending is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,069. Polyvinylidene fluoride/polymethyl methacrylate blends are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,271. Other blends are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,051,345; 5,496,889 (Compatibilized Blends); 4,990,406 (F-terpolymer/acrylate blends). Graft Copolymers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,359.
Use of fluoro monomers as thermal stress-crack relievers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,881. 2-Chloropentafluoropropene is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,915,510 (see Example 4); 2,917,497 (see Example 11); and 2,975,164 (see Example 7).
However, none of these references describes preparation of fluorine-containing polymers, copolymers, terpolymers, and blends thereof, prepared by a process, which employs an azeotropic mixture of monomers having a constant composition as the feed stream.
In view of the high cost of the fluoro monomer starting materials, there is a need in industry to develop a general and commercially feasible process for making such fluorine-containing polymers and exploring their properties and uses in various applications.
To achieve this objective, the present invention provides a practical process, which is capable of introducing the reactants into the reaction zone in a single stream having a constant composition.
For this reason, the process according to the present invention is potentially useful commercially.